Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Wednesday that lawmakers will be briefed in the coming days about security plans for the Capitol during a rally later this month in support of people charged with crimes related to the Jan. 6 insurrection and maintained that “we intend to have the integrity of the Capitol be intact.”
Pelosi said that “there are some briefings going on at the appropriate level” with the House Administration Committee, which will be followed by additional ones for other members of Congress ahead of the Sept. 18 “Justice for J6” rally, when people demonstrating for those arrested for invading the Capitol are set to gather.
When asked if there are plans to reinstall a fence around the Capitol complex, which came down this spring, Pelosi said: “Not necessarily.”
“What happened on Jan. 6 was such an assault on this beautiful Capitol,” Pelosi told reporters in the Capitol. “And now these people are coming back to praise the people who were out to kill. Out to kill members of Congress, successfully causing the deaths — successfully is not the word, but that’s the word, because it’s what they set out to do — of our law enforcement.”
Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died a day after engaging with the violent mob of former President Trump’s supporters, while four other police officers from the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department died by suicide in the weeks after the attack. More than 140 police officers between the two departments were injured.
The Hill reported Tuesday that the Capitol Police are planning to present a security plan this week to the Capitol Police Board, which oversees its activities. The Metropolitan Police Department is also planning an “increased presence around the city,” according to a spokesperson.
The Sept. 18 rally in support of the more than 570 people charged with crimes related to the attack on the Capitol is being organized by a group called Look Ahead America, which is led by a former Trump campaign official. The event is not expected to draw as many people as on Jan. 6, but some members of the same right-wing extremist groups that were at the Capitol on the day of the insurrection may also be in attendance on Sept. 18.
Matt Braynard, the executive director of the group organizing the Sept. 18 rally, has urged attendees to “be respectful and kind to all law enforcement officers” and advised only bringing signs or clothing focused on “demanding justice for these political prisoners.”
Neither chamber of Congress is scheduled to be in session on Sept. 18, which falls on a Saturday. The House isn’t expected to return from its summer recess until two days later.
The Sept. 18 rally marks the latest Capitol security concern in a year of multiple major incidents that have led to the deaths of Capitol Police officers.
A man rammed his car into a security barricade in April, killing Capitol Police officer William “Billy” Evans and injuring another. And last month, a man drove his truck onto the sidewalk in front of the Library of Congress just across the street from the Capitol and claimed he had a bomb, causing a tense five-hour standoff before the man surrendered to law enforcement.